Mid-Ohio Great Lakes Race of Champions Majors Tour Race Results – June 2016

It’s late Sunday afternoon as I begin to write this blog entry, I am mildly soaked in champagne from the podium celebration and fatigue is setting in. Nonetheless, I am elated with a strong sense of pride that we’ve put the early struggles of the season behind us and travel all the way to Lexington, Ohio and scored two wins against some of the best competition in the country. This National race at Mid-Ohio in June was billed as the warm up and testing grounds for that National Championship Runoffs that will be held here in September. The Team learned a lot about the track and we now have a strategy in place to deal with changing weather wet/dry conditions associated with racing at Mid-Ohio (sometime reffered to as Mud Ohio). We came within .33 of a second of the Prototype 1 track record, more importantly we’re confident that we know where to find that last bit of speed!

 Learning the Track

The Mid-Ohio is comprised of thirteen turns laid out over rolling hills. The circuit has very technical corners, 3 of which you can’t see the exit until you enter the turn. The more challenging turns are blind corners that you don’t get a visual on the exit until you’re half-way through the corner driving through the apex. Learning this track in the humid Midwest weather is the most physically and mentally demanding thing I’ve ever done in a race car.

 mid-ohio track map

Day 1: Practice/Qualifying Session 1

Arrive at the paddock to be informed the Stohr has some issues, after some diagnostics it’s determined that we have a dead cylinder. This means an engine change, or perhaps I should say our third motor swap in the last two race weekends. We miss the morning practice session. The afternoon qualifying session begins at 4:30 PM so there is ample time to put the spare motor in and get car #81 ready to go! Unfortunately, the qualifying session is very crowded and I never manage a clean lap. This results in us qualifying 4th in the P1 class with 1:26.62.Tomorrow we’ll need to let it all hang out during the second qualifying session.

 

Jun 04, 2016: SCCA Majors at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Day 2: Qualifying Session 2

Qualifying/Race day, we engage in our standard routine, the morning is spent making sure everything on the Stohr WF-1 is 100%. Then we proceed with analysis of the on-board car data, Jeff Shafer and I discuss were speed can be gained and review the on-board video and debate the racing line. Braking points and zones will be critical. I start the qualifying gridded in 12th (a big improvement) and quickly move up into the top five and get some clear sailing. With a few clean laps I eventually knock 2.6 seconds off my time and put the car on pole in P1 with a 1:23.98.

Day 2: Race 1

Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating, and the much expected rain arrives. The competitors that raced earlier in the day got out on a dry track. I don’t mind racing in the wet, however, if it’s a significant downpour…..that’s another story. With cooler temperatures and pouring rain nobody could get heat in their rain tires, several race cars have “off track” adventures and it a basic clusterF@%&! It was more survival than a race as attempting to overtake would be very high risk. Long story short; I held our position out front and survived the rain shorted race to score a win in Race 1 of the weekend.

MidO Rain car3

Day 3: Race 2

The Group 9 Race is scheduled for 4PM, so Naia and I zip up to Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and yes it’s awesome!! It’s a welcome distraction, waiting around the track all day for a big race can get tedious…..but I digress.

There are some intermittent rain showers throughout the middle of the day, by race time the sun is out and the conditions are close to perfect and as they say…gentlemen start your engines. Enjoy the video:

Jun 05, 2016: SCCA Majors at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

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Buttonwillow Raceway Majors Tour Race Results – May 2016

Buttonwillow Raceway Park – SCCA Major Western Division Championship

For several months the Team has been chasing the handling issues with the Stohr WF1. The issues surfaced at the SCCA Runoffs in Daytona in September, and made the car unmanageable at Auto Club Speedway in October 2015. Long story short, we’ve been chasing these issues throughout 2016. We arrived at Auto club Speedway in January with rebuilt/re-calibrated shocks. The car wasn’t 100%, but much improved. Mechanically issues and inclimate weather undermined our ability to get some serous seat time over that weekend (read below), and fine tune the car. Next up was Willow Springs Raceway in February, the car felt “off” and the rear of the car did NOT instill confidence. This resulted in the inability to commit to the corners at speeds we needed to be truly competitive. After the Willow Springs race weekend the team pulled the rear differential, which is hard to access, and sent it off for a refresh. The vendor reported there was definitely a problem, so through a process of elimination we eventually identified the culprit. Unfortunately, our 2016 race season has been compromised by the handling issues and other mechanically gremlins.

Now the good news, we now have a sorted race car and the opportunity to focus on racing and being competitive. One of the stories of 2016 has been Jim Devenport setting new track records in Prototype 1 at all the tracks we’ve raced at this year. With some hard work, we feel that we can take the fight to Devenport in his Norma M20FC. So in a sense – with great optimism; we felt our season began this weekend.

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We had a simple game plan going into the SCCA event, learn the track, fine tune the set up on the Stohr WF1, and get back up to speed.

Learning the Track

I quickly realized that Buttonwillow Raceway is a real handful. I haven’t raced here in seven years, and really don’t recall running the current configuration. The circuit is a combination of slow technical corners and fast high speed sections. Lots of FUN! The last time I drove a track with these slow technical corner was Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in March 2015. The take away; learning a new track is not an easy thing and this particular circuit is both mentally and very physically demanding on day one.

Day 2: Practice/Qualifying Sessions 1 & 2

After the morning qualifying session we engage in a thorough debrief of the on-board car data, Jeff Shafer had the opportunity to get my car out on track Wednesday prior to my arrival and put down a solid time of 1:37:3. The data system allows us to take the data from when Jeff was driving the car and overlay my data on top. This gives you a computer visual/ graphic of the car’s speed into, thorough, and coming out of all the corners…laid out on a track map. If the lines in the graphic are closely superimposed, then the drivers are going at a very similar rate. If there are gaps in the graphics, these gaps represent where Jeff was going faster me. This eliminates the guess work; I now know where I am going slower or need to make up time! After determining the areas where I can improve, we view my on-board video and Jeff coaches me through some of the sequences of corners on the circuit where I need to carry more speed or try a different approach. This is extremely helpful listening to him explain he’s driving strategy for certain segments of the track.

Qualifying Sessions 2 plays out as expected based on everybody’s lap times in practice and the first qualifying session. I am chasing Devenport’s time of 1:36:5, he is clearly going to be the fastest guy all weekend.  Mission accomplished; we are P2 on the front row with a lap of 1:38:7.

Race 1 (15 Laps): Devenport sitting on pole gets the jump at the green flag and proceeded to slowly pull a 5-7 car gap, no big surprise. I give it my all in hot pursuit, coming off the hill I reduce the gap and notice Devenport lifts considerably going into Riverside, as we exit unto the back straight I am one car length behind him and pulling in his draft. It’s rather surreal as the wind has been blowing all day and our raced started after the lunch break, thus the track is covered in a light film of dust and it’s getting kicked up by the lead car. Devenport brakes a tad early at the end of the back straight and I go for the pass…enjoy the video:

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Willow Springs International Raceway- SCCA Majors Tour

Last Friday after being in a meeting in Los Angles all week, I drove up to Willow Springs for Round 3 & 4 of the SCCA’s Western Conference Championship.

Friday Practice – February 19: I quickly realize that Willow Springs Raceway is a lot different than what I remembered from my last experience racing there in 2010. I remember it being fast, and always a challenge to figure out your visual marks and the turn-in-point for turn nine. I don’t remember the track being this bumpy. It seems the track surface, like all things, has not weathered time as well as one would hope. In addition to all the bumps and the rough ride, the track is a lot more work than I recall. In a prototype car you’re pulling significant g-forces in turns 1, 2, 8, and 9. Especially turns 2 & 8, these are long turns, so you’re pulling high g-forces for prolonged periods of time. Long story short, I am not really comfortable going this fast on some of these unsettling bumpy surfaces, especially turn eight at 142 mph+ and the set up for turning into turn 9. It doesn’t help that I am recovering from the flu/head cold, the fatigue sets in faster than most race weekends. My fastest lap in the Radical SR3 that I recall was a mid-1:19.  In the Stohr my lap times start off in the 1:19 range and quickly move down to 1:18s. After several session my lap time dip down into the 1:17s. Eventually I execute a 1:16:5, however, this is way off the current track record for CSR 1:13.7 (Lee Alexander).  Nonetheless, my Stohr WF1 is running very strong, the California weather is flawless, and I settled into the task at hand….making the necessary adjustments to qualify car #8 at the front of Group 1 on Saturday.

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Saturday Qualifying for Group 1 – February 20: the qualifying session was a straight forward affair. My mission; put the car on pole by getting one clean lap driving the car on the edge. Qualifying is almost always complicated by the various slower cars on track unwilling to give way, as they are attempting to qualify. Luck does play a role in the greater scheme of things, as it took several laps before I got a reasonably clean lap. Jim Devenport puts his Norma M20FC on pole in Prototype 1 with a blistering 1:13.7, I am a full two seconds back with a lap of 1:15.7. Jeff Shafer is on pole for Prototype 2 in his Radical SR3 with a very fast 1:16.7.

Saturday: Race 1: Devenport has selected the inside lane for Norma M20FC Prototype 1 car, I’m on his left -2nd on the grid in the Stohr WF1. Immediately behind us in third is Jeff Shafer in his Radical SR3 (P2) and Timothy de Silva rounding out the top 4 with his Formula Continental (FC). Starting the race from the front row and leading the field of twenty-eight cars to the green flag had me both a little nervous and way pumped! I was confident that I had a good shot of beating the Norma of Devenport into turn one, and as luck would have it I got a jump on him at the drop of the green flag and squeezed him little coming into turn one. I may have had the lead but I had a mirror full of Devenport’s Norma #23, I knew he was going to pounce on any mistake I made. Devenport clearly had the faster car, although he seemed a little impatient and drove aggressively. I return the favor, and we put on show for the first 3-4 laps traded positions. Unfortunately, there was some minor car-to-car contact. Eventually, Devenport cleared me and set sail, scoring his second impressive win of the season, and setting a New Track Record (1:14.832) for P1. We brought the Mere Mortal Stohr WF1 car #8 home 3rd overall and 2nd in class.

I decided to borrowed Jim Devenport’s video as it captured my struggles in Saturday’s race to keep him at bay – enjoy:

Sunday: Race 2 – February 21:  On Sunday I am now feeling considerably more comfortable with the bumpy surface, turn in points, and really high corner speeds. The start of the race in some ways is a repeat of Race 1, Devenport is on pole and has selected the inside lane for Norma M20FC P1, again I’m on his left -2rd on the grid in the Stohr WF1. Immediately behind us in third are Jeff Shafer/Radical SR3 (P2) and Gary Hickman/Phoenix F1000 (FB) rounding out the top 4. Watch the video and enjoy!

Congratulation to the Drivers that set New Track Records at Willow Springs Raceway!

  • P1 by Jim Devenport (1:14.832)
  • P2 by Jeff Shafer (1:17.120)
  • FB by Gary Hickman (1:15.879)
  • FC by Timothy de Silva (1:18.186)

Willow Springs Raceway Trophies 2016

Auto Club Speedway Majors Tour Race Results – Jan 2016

Round 1 & 2; Auto Club Speedway – SCCA Majors Tour
I can sum up the first race weekend of the year in one well know phrase: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

The Good. Unfortunately the wasn’t a lot of “Good” to report. On Friday we did qualify the Stohr WF1 in 3rd, with a personal best time of a 1:35.3. A full 1.2 seconds faster than January 2015 when we put the car on pole. Keep in mind that we did this with less HP, after the race in January 2015 the SCCA in their infinite wisdom decide to revise the spec line for the motor mandating greater restrictions to the air inlets.

Additionally, I got to practice some high speed drafting-overtaking on the banking, Auto Club Speedway and Daytona are on a short list of tracks were we run  flat out-at high speed for a significant duration of time(145+ mph). Enjoy the practice/qualifying highlights:

Race 1 Saturday/January 30th: the phase the bad sums it up! The paddle shifter system malfunction on the way to the grid. Car number 8 was never released from the grid – a no start for Race 1!! So not much to report other than it wasn’t much fun.

Race 2 Sunday/January 31st: The weather prediction for Sunday was El Niño torrential downpour. So weather was definitely going to be a factor. Rain conditions can be a great equalizer or separate the men from the boys, it goes without say that weather would most likely play a role in the race outcome. After winning Saturday race and smashing the track record, Jim Devenport decided he had accomplished everything he wanted that weekend and bailed. Chris Farrell was now on pole, well until his Stohr decided that it didn’t want to move forward. This advanced me to the pole position, watch the race unfold in the worse rain conditions that I’ve experienced:

SCCA Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship – Auto Club Speedway

Fontana, CA – As a team we went to Auto Club Speedway (ACS) with the hopes of finishing out the 2015 season with a win. We had a number of things to look forward to; Jim Devenport was bring his P1 Norma from Northern CA, so we could fire up the battle that started in Daytona, and we were closing out our run for the SCCA Southern Pacific Divisional P1 Title. Additionally, we were returning to Auto Club Speedway, where we started our season and raced the Stohr WF-1 for the first time, so we wanted to ascertain how much additional speed we could engineer out of the car and gauge our progress.

Group 5 Turn 2 ACS_4793_Oct18151

This is racing, and as is so often the case, not everything goes as planned. To begin with we had the “Daytona set-up” on the Stohr, and the car didn’t feel right. At Daytona we went way out on limb trying to find as much speed as possible for the ridiculously long straightaways. In a sense, Daytona is an aberration; it has no similarities to any other track. So the car set-up for Daytona is unlikely to apply to other tracks. More specifically, the car seemed to exhibit a real lack of mechanical grip in the slow tight corners at ACS. If I attempted to attack the corners, the car would go into a premature slide, like the tires were completely worn out. This was very apparent applying power exiting the corners; the back end kept stepping out. At times it felt like the tail end of the car wanted to pass the front end on entrance to the corner; not much fun. I’ve raced ill-handling cars before, and it just goes from bad to worse as the tires get over heated and the car’s handling continues to deteriorate. The race weekend was only two days, so we had very limited time to resolve these issues. Although the team worked tirelessly to resolve the handling issues of the car, we never got on top of it and really didn’t show our potential.

Speed – we actually went faster at ACS then our initial visit in January 2015. I know, you’re thinking why did he just write a lengthy paragraph complaining about his car’s handling. Reality, we weren’t incredible fast in January, it was our first time in the car and I wasn’t completely comfortable. I believe that last weekend we found a little more speed because I know the track and was braking much later for the corners. In January we put the car on pole with a respectable 1:36:8, on Sunday morning on used tires we managed a 1:35:2. However, the competition ran a 1:34:7 in qualifying. The SCCA track record for Prototype 1 is 1:34:3.

Group 5 Grid AC2_8948_bw_Oct1715

Saturday’s qualifying race turned out to be a nice little battle with pole sitter Jim Devenport in his French built Norma. Watch and enjoy:

https://vimeo.com/140067541

The rest of the weekend was a mixed bag; mechanical issues force half the P1 field to retire. Devenport had an engine miss that the team was unable to resolve, and new comer Scott McPherson’s Hayabusa motor let go in his Stohr WF1. So the big showdown on Sunday didn’t materialize, we’ll have to wait until 2016.

We were on a mission: finish the season with a win, and win we did!!

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2015 Race Season Recap

  • Seven race weekends – 12 Races
  • 9 Race Wins
  • 11 Podiums
  • Finished 2nd in the 2015 Nationwide Point Standings
  • Captured the Southern Pacific P1 Divisional Title